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Henry the Druid 8 / Hierophant 4 has "Tongue of the Land" (see below) and runs across Ned the Nuckelavee. (See http://www.dxcontent.com/MDB_MonsterBlock.asp?MDBID=1223 for details)

Ned speaks Aklo, Common and Sylvan. For the sake of argument, let's say that Henry speaks only Common and Druidic.

Questions:

1. Can Henry understand Ned when Ned speaks in Aklo? What about Sylvan? (I assume Henry can always understand Ned perfectly well when Ned speaks Common). Does Henry always understand Ned, since Ned is a Fey?

2. When Henry speaks to Ned, what language does he hear, if any? Can Henry choose?

3. If Henry can understand anything Ned says when not speaking Common (see question 1), can Henry tell which language is being spoken?

4. Suppose Nelly the Nymph walks up. Can Ned and Henry converse in Aklo so that Nelly doesn't understand, or is it assumed that one of the common languages is being spoken?

5. What about other Fey, like the Alplualachra (see http://www.dxcontent.com/MDB_MonsterBlock.asp?MDBID=2657) that only speak Aklo, but not some other language? If you're speaking to an Alplualachra, you're presumably speaking Aklo; does Nelly understand the conversation?

Thanks for any RAW/RAI interpretation, examples and/or opinions. Thanks!

Tongue of the Land (Su): Animals, elementals, fey, and plants are magically able to understand you when you speak Druidic, as if you were using speak with animals or tongues. If speaking to creatures of different types at the same time, you can allow all of them to understand you or speak understandably to just one type at a time. For example, if speaking to a group of animals and fey, you can make yourself understandable to all of them, just to the animals, or just to the fey.

I am trying to determine a fair price for an item (likely goggles or a headband or something) that grants its wearer the See in Darkness ability. The first obvious comparison is with Goggles of Night:

Goggles of Night

Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd

Slot eyes; Price 12,000 gp; Weight —

Description

The lenses of this item are made of dark crystal. Even though the lenses are opaque, when placed over the eyes of the wearer, they enable him to see normally and also grant him 60-foot darkvision. Both lenses must be worn for the magic to be effective.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, darkvision; Cost 6,000 gp

The equipment I propose should be at least this expensive. A slightly less obvious comparison is with the Rod of Shadows:

Rod of Shadows

Aura moderate abjuration; CL 8th

Slot none; Price 64,305 gp; Weight 5 lbs.

Description

This ebon rod is so dark it seems to absorb the light around it. The rod functions as a +2 light mace, and allows its wielder to see in darkness as if it had the see in darkness ability. Three times per day, the wielder can use it to create a deeper darkness effect (caster level 8th). To use this ability, the rod's wielder must touch the object affected, which is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Construction

Requirements Craft Rod, deeper darkness, true seeing; Cost 32,305 gp

Most likely, an item that only grants See in Darkness ought to be less expensive than this. I tried to reverse engineer the cost of the Rod of Shadows to determine how much See in Darkness is contributing to the cost:

Deeper Darkness ability cost = spell level X caster level X 2,000gp X 1.5 (use-activated) / (5/3) = 3 x 8 x 2,000 x 1.5 x 0.6 = 43,200gp

+2 Enhancement cost = enhancement^2 x 2,000gp = 4 x 2,000 = 8,000gp

See in Darkness cost ~ total cost - Deeper Darkness cost - Enhancement cost = 13,105gp

This is technically more than the Goggles of Night, but not by a lot. Is ~13,000gp too cheap for this?

Bonus question: is there any precedent for adding drawbacks to weapons to decrease their price, like there is for adding CP to animated objects? I'm thinking something like Light Blindness would be a good way to moderate the power of this item, in which case it looks a lot like an item that grants its wearer the Dark Sight / Gloom Sight / Improved Dark Sight trio of Fetchling racial feats.

Sorry if this has already been asked - a quick search didn't turn up anything obvious.

The Universal Mythic Path ability Divine Source grants SLAs corresponding to domain spells no greater than your mythic tier; i.e., at tier N, you can cast spells of level N or lower as a SLA. Full text:

Divine Source (Su): You can grant divine spells to those who follow your cause, allowing them to select you as their deity for the purposes of determining their spells and domains. Select two domains upon taking this ability. These domains must be alignment domains matching your alignment if possible, unless your alignment is neutral. You grant access to these domains as if you were a deity. Creatures that gain spells from you don't receive any spells per day of levels higher than your tier; they lose those spell slots. In addition, you can cast spells from domains you grant as long as their level is equal to or less than your tier. Each day as a spell-like ability, you can cast one spell of each level equal to or less than your tier (selecting from those available to you from your divine source domains). If you're a cleric or you venerate a deity, you may change your spell domains to those you grant others. At 6th tier and 9th tier, you can select this ability again, adding one domain and two subdomains (see the Advanced Player's Guide) to your list each time and adding their spells to the list of those that you can cast.

What is your caster level, for the purposes of determining spell effects and overcoming spell resistance? Some candidates that come to mind:

1. Your character's total hit dice;
2. The lowest (or highest?) level at which a cleric could cast spells of at most that level;
3. Twice the character's mythic tier.

I understand that (3) and (1) should generally be the same... unless the Mythic Paragon feat is meant to work with it, which seems like it might be too strong:

Mythic Paragon (Mythic)

Your mythic power is even more potent than that of most other mythic beings.

Benefit: Your tier is considered 2 higher for determining the potency of mythic abilities, feats, and spells. This doesn't grant you access to mythic abilities or greater versions of mythic spells at a lower tier than you would normally need to be to get them, nor does it grant you additional uses of mythic power or adjust the dice you roll for your surge.

EDIT: In another thread, the consensus seems to be that Mythic Paragon does let you use higher-level SLAs when combined with Divine Source, which is already pretty powerful. Is that intended?

My understanding is that the Summon Monster spells allow only one summoned creature at a time, whereas the Animate Objects spell allows multiple objects simultaneously (depending upon the size and caster level). Furthermore, Shadow Conjuration and Shades can be used to mimic Conjuration (Summoning) spells. A few questions about how these work and interact:

1. If a caster is able to do so, could he cast Animate Objects twice, animating twice as many objects? Based on RAW, I would guess so, although I could see that the RAI are that the number of animated objects be limited (similarly to how animating undead works).

2. Can a caster have a Summon Monster and an Animate Object going at the same time? This sounds legit, just checking.

3. Can a caster have a Summon Monster and a Shadow Conjuration (Summon Monster) or Shades (Summon Monster) going at the same time?

4. Can a caster have a Shadow Conjuration (Summon Monster) and a Shades (Summon Monster) going at the same time?

5. Can you have all these guys going at the same time? I realize that trying to actually do this is of dubious value, but is it allowable if one insists?

Also - I think that calling outsiders works based on HD. How does calling fit into this picture? I assume... that you can't overlap one calling with another calling, but you can overlap it with everything else. Then again, by RAW, maybe you can have a dozen callings going simultaneously?